C&C
C&C stands for Corflute and Cubes. These two items combined allow you to get really creative and design indoor housing for your pet guinea pigs. However I would like to take it all a step further to show you so much more about these.
Lets start with what they are.
Corflute
Corflute is corrugated plastic. You will have seen it as signage in front of homes when a house sells. You can print on it, and it can come in different colours. What most people don’t realise is that you can acquire this very easily and simply and cheaply from lots of places.
Corflute comes in different thickenesses with the thinnest being 3ml.. Then 5ml and higher. I find that the 5ml creates a really solid frame however, the 3 ml is suitable if you have to move the corflute into a small space before folding it out larger.
You can acquire corflute from nearly every art shop and they will actually know what the word means, where other shops are often confused ( try saying “corrugated plastic” and that usually is understood). It comes in many different sheet sizes with the largest being about the size of a car.
Most places that you aquire it from can cut it for you, which really is done with a pair of sizzors. Alternately if you get the 3ml size it will easily form into a long roll. Then of course there are always smaller sheets. Here in Australia all Bunnings supply it as well as a large number of wood suppliers and printers. Some bunnings actually give it away for free, as it is used between the layers of their tiles that come in to be sold. Then it is normally thrown out. So check with your tile suppliers as well. As a rough guide you can acquire very large sheets for approx $10.
Grids
Grids are square frames that are coated in a protective finish that when joined together, can form walls, bases, sides etc of cages. In the past grids were used to make cubed shaped furniture that held books and other items. You may still see some of this in use. The aquitision of these grids can be through our online store, or you can find them locally supplied by places like bunnings.
Grids come with corner plastic holders and they are not worth their use at all. As you cage moves, or you bump it or guinea pigs move about, they become loose and you will then spend all your time reconnecting them. The best thing is to plan to use cable ties. Simply connecting panels using 2 will provide a great way to hold them in place.
Grids can also be used as small enclosures for guinea pigs to have floor time. We have all seen the cute videos where piggies are bounding around the house, but the reality is that there may be other pets in the house, or larger spaces that are more complicated to manage etc. So setting up a space that is safe and conducive to play in is very realistic. When play has finished simply fold the structure away and it can literally slip behind a door or beside the fridge.
Reading into the next section you will see that you don’t need to have grids themselves, but there are many alternatives that are easy to find.
Children and creativity
As guinea pigs are seen to be a child’s first pet, it stands to reason that you want them to be fully emmersed in the experience. This can start with learning about their new piggie friends right through to the creativity of cage structures and building. This is far more realistic than leggo.There are a few guidelines to adhere to, but outside of that, creating an indoor C&C structure is great fun and gets them thinking about modifications and what suits a particular space best.
So if you are not able to obtain grids, you can acquire many different panels that are made from the same materials from places like bunnings. Look for where they do home renovations and you will see a variety of panels that can create a structure that you require. They may be rectangular rather than square but they work just as well and may be readily available.
